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Schools would only be closed if the children can be sent to better schools.

That was the promise of Chicago Public Schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett before CPS announced the largest school shakeup in the nation: the closing of 54 public elementary schools.

And students at nearly two thirds of those schools — 33 — will in fact be sent to academically stronger places, according to a Sun-Times analysis.

But children from another third are going to schools with CPS academic rankings similar to the schools they are leaving. And kids from at least eight of those schools are landing at facilities with lower state standardized test scores. More…